Mavriplis et al., “Mind the Gap”
Mind the Gap: Women in STEM Career Breaks Authors: Catherine Mavriplis, Rachelle Heller, Cheryl Beil, Kim Dam, Natalya Yassinskaya, Megan Shaw, Charlene Sorensen Abstract “Mind the Gap: Women in STEM Career Breaks” by Catherine Mavriplis, Rachelle Heller, Cheryl Beil, Kim Dam, Natalya Yassinskaya, Megan Shaw, and Charlene Sorensen is a study that reveals the truth about career breaks for women in STEM. Many women drop out of their careers in STEM in their mid-to-late thirties because of a variety of reasons. However, one of the main reasons is because it is difficult for them to balance both their career and a family. The authors of this study interview many women who are taking a break from their career and ask them a variety of questions. These questions include if they think the break was a good decision, if they are planning to return to work, if they are confident in their skills, if they are planning to return to the STEM field, etc. The study finds that many women believed that their positions were highly demanding of their time and energy. Although their work consumed so much of their time and energy, many women believed that there was little opportunity for advancement. The article also discusses the surrounding arguments of the marginalization of women in STEM careers, the pressure that is put on these women because of their “biological clocks” and also offers some solutions to this problem that women face when taking a break from their careers. Key Concepts STEM: STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Lack of Tenure Positions: The article states that “women were awarded 44.6% of the science and engineering doctorates in the US in the period of 1996-2005,” but “only 35% of the tenure-track science and engineering positions in 2006 were held by women with less than 10 years since their doctorate” (Mavriplis et al.). Although about half of all the science and engineering doctorates in the US were given to women, they only earned 35% of the tenure-track positions. This difference in numbers show that there is something wrong with the system and that women are discriminated when choosing candidates for a tenured position. Women dropping out of STEM careers: Although there has been a great improvement of women pursuing STEM related careers, “more than 54% of them drop out between their mid-to-late thirties” (Giang). Although there are many reasons for this such as illness in the family, having to care for elderly parents, being unable to find a job, etc., the biggest reason is because many women feel the pressure of their “biological clocks” running out and they find it difficult to balance both a family and a career. Career Breaks: Because many women find it hard to balance a high-demanding STEM career along with their own personal problems (family, illness, finance, etc.) they choose to take a break from their career. 15 women were interviewed in this study and out of that 15, nine women’s career breaks were “related to pregnancy (child-birth and child care), two were related to husbands relocating, two experienced both a pregnancy and a relocation, and one went into the gap because a parent was terminally ill” (Mavriplis et al.). Most of the women realized that this break would be a huge setback in their career, but they believed that this was their own choice. The Issue- Difficulty Returning to STEM fields: The career break is not the issue here. The problem is that after this career break, many women have a difficult time being accepted back into their old jobs or even finding a new job. According to the study, this is because “as a woman you are less welcome in STEM fields to begin with (general attitude). There are no visible successful examples of non-linear careers for STEM women. Only non-breaking careers are publicized as successful examples” (Mavriplis et al.). This means that there is no good role model for these women in STEM fields that took a break in their career. There is no famous person that women can look up to for guidance on how to return to the STEM field after a break. Also, there are “negative biases in the disciplines expressed toward those who seek to raise a family” (Mavriplis et al.). It is seen that if someone takes a break in their career for their family or any other reason, they are not taking their profession seriously enough and therefore, they should not be taken seriously. It is also difficult for women to return to the STEM field because on job applications, they ask for their “past five years of experience. So, if you were on a break for the past five years or a part of it, you have a problem” (Mavriplis et al.). Suggested Solutions: The authors of the study offer several suggestions on how to fix this problem of women finding it difficult to return to the STEM workplace. One of the solutions is creating seminar series that “inform women about the issues looming ahead.” Another solution was changing the structure of recruitment and retention. As mentioned above, women that take career breaks have a difficult time filling out job applications because it asks them to write down their experience for the past 5 years. If they have been on a break for the past 5 years or a part of those 5 years, then they have nothing to write. Instead of asking their experience for the past 5 years, the authors suggest that job applications should ask for a description of their best experiences or a description of “any five years of your career” (Mavriplis et al.). The best solution would be to “legitimize breaks.” Hewlett Packard or HP offers an “arc-of-career” flexibility, “whereby women in the gab could be able to re-enter the career on a different path from those who are just entering the field. If the networks and supports are in place during the gap, women will be able to mark their most productive five years, rather than their last five years as a sign of their merit and ability” (Mavriplis et al.). All STEM related companies and schools should put this system into practice so that women are not marginalized and discouraged to return to their job. Examples So one might ask why is it so important that there needs to be women in STEM fields? It is not that STEM is a better career or anything, but it is just that it is so male-dominated that there needs to be more of a women presence in the field. For example, "'Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Comput''ing discusses the fact that ‘some early'' voice-recognition systems were calibrated to typical male voices. As a result, women’s voices were literally unheard… Similar caes are found in many other industries. For instance, a predominantly male group of engineers tailored the first generation of automotive airbags to adult male bodies, resulting in avoidable deaths for women and children’ (Margolis & fisher, 2002, pp.2-3)” (Corbett). If there were more women in these fields at the time, these problems could have been easily avoided. Women are being marginalized and discriminated against even if they make it to a career in STEM fields. A recent example of this happened in April 2015. Two female researchers sent in their research paper to be peer reviewed. The peer review said this: “‘It would probably… be beneficial to find one or two male biologists to work with (or at least obtain internal peer review from, but better yet as active co-authors)’ to prevent the manuscript from ‘drifting too far away from empirical evidence into ideologically biased assumptions.’” (Gander). Evolutionary geneticist Fiona Ingleby shared this online on Twitter and it blew up. This caused the peer reviewer to receive a lot of hatred and ultimately, he was fired. This is just a small example of how women scientists are being marginalized and discriminated even in today’s society. Resources and further reading “Recruiting and hiring women in STEM fields” by Christy Glass and Krista Lynn Minnotte in Journal of Diversity in Higher Education: This scholarly article explores the system of the recruitment and hiring process into STEM related fields and whether this system hinders or promotes women from being hired into tenure-track positions. The authors also identify strategies that universities and academic departments can use to increase the women representation in these tenure-track positions. “Gender stereotypes stem from the distribution of women and men into social roles” by Alice H. Eagly and Valerie J. Steffen in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: This scholarly article talks about the stereotypes and gender norms that trap both women and men into certain social roles. Because of these stereotypes, women are less likely to be hired, women are more likely to hold positions of lower status and authority, and women are more likely to be homemakers. “Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM): An Investigation of Their Implicit Gender Stereotypes and Stereotypes’ Connectedness to Math Performance” by Annique Smeding: This article talks about the stereotypes of women and how that affects their performance in STEM fields. Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing ''by Allan Fisher and Jane Margolis: In this book, the authors discuss the many influences that contribute to the gender gap in specifically the area of computing. They base the book on interviews with more than 100 computer science students from both sexes, as well as observations in the classroom and conversations with hundreds of members of college and high school faculty. https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ostp/women This website from the government offers fact sheets, reports, news, videos, speeches and events, and resources for women interested in STEM fields. President Barack Obama has realized a need for more women in STEM fields so this website helps promote that. Keywords STEM Gender Divide Digital Divide Stereotypes Inequality Citations Corbett, Christianne. "Why Do We Need Women in Stem Fields?" ''Nature.com. Nature Publishing Group, 24 Feb. 2011. Web. 11 May 2015. Gander, Kashmira. "Sexist Science Journal Peer Reviewer Advises Women to Get Men to Help with Their Research." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 30 Apr. 2015. Web. 11 May 2015. Giang, Vivian. "Why Women Are Ditching STEM Careers--And How To Change It." Fast Company. N.p., 27 Jan. 2015. Web. 11 May 2015. Mavriplis, Catherine, Rachelle Heller, Cheryl Beil, Kim Dam, Natalya Yassinskaya, Megan Shaw, and Charlene Sorensen. "Mind the Gap: Women in STEM Career Breaks." ''Journal of Technology Management & Innovation''5.1 (2010): n. pag. Web. 11 May 2015. Category:Reading